The Band Fishes
by Staroxide the Wanderer
Summary: A story of a freshman going through his first year of high school marching band at Judson! A dedication to all of my best friends in band especially to my best friend ^_^. If you really do know me read the disclaimer! Ch. 2 is up!
1. Introduction

[DISCLAIMER: This isn't really an actual word-on-word account of what happened during my freshman year, just in case someone from my school is actually reading this [Highly unlikely, but you never know o.o], it's sort of based on my experiences in my freshman year and my current Junior year [I don't exactly want to get into my sophomore year] So it's like an fictionization or whatever or something. I should've changed the names, but it would've felt too weird for me to type. I made some things up, but not too many things. Just enjoy it, It's just a little dedication to my best friend and my other band friends because it's the holidays and I felt a little lonely so I decided to write this up to compensate for it. ^_^]  
  
The skies were full of dark, gray clouds. I knew it was going to storm at least a little that afternoon. I had brought an umbrella with me just in case it did pour down. The dark clouds seemed to be a little ominous to me. I didn't really even want to come after having such a horrible day at school, but for some reason I just couldn't pull myself away from going to freshman orientation. I guess I just wanted to get away from my home from once. Plus it was band.  
  
As soon as I opened the glass door of the Perfoming Arts Center, I could hear raindrops fall from outside. I had a habit of coming earlier to an event then I really need to be, but surprisingly enough there were some people there, incoming freshmen from all the other schools. I tried my best to avoid any eye contact with anyone to avoid conversation. My awkward speech always made me a target for ridicule, and I didn't want to start off in high school being made fun of.  
  
I grabbed the handle of the door to the band hall. I pulled the handle really hard and managed to crack open the door just by an inch. I slipped in the door just before it could close on me. I was awed at the size of the high school band hall. It was just a little bit bigger than the band hall at my middle school, but something about the high school band hall made it seemed like it was like I was in a huge theater.  
  
After glancing around the band hall for awhile, my percussion band teacher came from one of the band offices. They looked the same from the band offices from my middle school, but like the band hall, they seemed different in a different way. She mentioned to me about where people who were going for the pit were going. She pointed to the uniform room, where no one was there yet.  
  
This was no surprise to me, since loneliness is no stranger to me. I went along to the uniform room, where two xylophones with their own stands were.  
  
As my band teacher closed the uniform room door, I deeply sighed. I put all of my tryout music on a stand and started practicing.  
  
I couldn't help but to feel empty. I felt like something was missing. I've always felt like this however. I continued practicing.  
  
I heard the door handle turn. I stopped practicing and wondered who was coming in. My hopes were that it was another kid from my school. But as the door opened it turned out to be my band teacher. She told me that I would have another guest with me. I didn't say anything much except for a emotionless oh.  
  
Then the girl came in. She put her music on the stand opposite of me. She was about as tall as me, if not a little taller. She was skinny and a bit frail looking. She had a look of uneasiness in her blue eye, and in her green eye a look of excitement. I never seen anyone in my life with eyes like her. Her long, blonde hair seemed to get in the way of her eyes. I was unconsciously hypnotized by her eyes. When she looked me in the eyes I became paralyzed with fear. I stuttered, thinking of something to say to her.  
  
"Hey." She said. "You alright?"  
  
I sighed with relief. "Yeah, I'm okay." Things felt a bit awkward now.  
  
"What's your name?" She asked.  
  
"Uhm... Mac." I uttered.  
  
"I'm Bethany." She chirped.  
  
"Cool. So you're trying out for pit too?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah." She said.  
  
We tried to practice our music, but we only spat out a few notes here and there. Each time I messed up, I looked up and smiled at her. She smiled back, eventually laughing a little bit.  
  
Even though we didn't get much done that afternoon, it was pretty awkward. Just me and her in the same room together, barely practicing at all. I didn't know it then, but I just got a little taste of high school band. And I met one of the coolest friends I ever had. 


	2. Rolling out

[DISCLAIMER: Sorry for the lack of updates, I've just been busy with some stuff and my computer's been acting weird. Plus I had writer's block.]  
  
It was the first day of freshman camp. I was really, really excited. My eighth grade year was just one of the worst times of my life. The last day of school was even worse, so I was glad I was about to enter a new campus with new people and a new chance to start all over again.  
  
It was early in the morning, around 7:30. Like I said before, I always liked to come to events and stuff early. For the early in June in South Texas, it was relatively cool. No one was there yet, so I just set down next to the glass doors and waited for people to come. Ten minutes later, I started to see some familiar faces from my old middle school. I also saw faces that I never saw in my life, but I could tell they were about to enter high school marching band like I was. I knew that some of those faces would have some influences on me, others not at all.  
  
I saw countless people carrying saxophones, flutes, clarinets, trumpets, and trombones, rushing out to the parking lot to get ready. As I looked at the people run to the PAC, I felt a slight tap on my shoulder. Back then (And to an extent still do today) I got startled by the slightest touch I felt (or didn't) so I jumped a few inches forward and yelped softly. I turned around to see Bethany, smiling yet tired-looking. "Hey. Jumpy are we?" She said slowly. She stretched out her long, thin arms up into the air and yawned.  
  
"Uhm... you're Bethany?" I stuttered. I felt stupid saying that.  
  
"Yeah." She said. "I remember you, uniform room, played like crap?"  
  
I chuckled a little bit. "Yup. Mac." I paused for a second, thinking of something to say. "Sorry for forgetting your name."  
  
"It's okay." She said. "I forgot we were even supposed to come here!"  
  
"Yeah," I started, "It's just that I just had the worst school year ever."  
  
She giggled. "Haven't we all?" She pointed to where everyone else was running off to. "I think we're supposed to be over there."  
  
"I thought the pit didn't march." I said.  
  
"I guess we all have to go through some marching crap." She said. She sprinted off to the rushing crowd. I soon followed.  
  
***  
  
It was noon and I was ready to hit the sheets. I was exhausted physically from everything, but I was really excited about marching band. Mentally I thought I could do more but physically if I did I'd passed out.  
  
I was outside of the Performing Arts Center, waiting for my Mom to pick me up. As always, there were a lot of other people waiting for their parents or other friends waiting for their rides too. I paced around the parking lot to look for my Mom's red Explorer. After a few minutes with no results, I just assumed that she wasn't here yet and hopefully didn't forget about me. I went back near the glass doors where there was shade. I sat down and wiped sweat from my forehead. There were still some people left looking for their rides, but I was too shy to even say a simple hi to any of them. I just sat there and looked at them talking and laughing to each other. I sighed to myself and stood up to continue to search for my Mom.  
  
As I scanned around the parking lot once again to look for my Mom, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I ended up tripping over something and fell on the sidewalk. I wasn't hurt or anything, but I heard someone scream. I turned on my back and got up. I saw Bethany's back.  
  
"Hey watch it you-" She turned around. "Oh it's you again."  
  
"What happened?" I asked.  
  
"Some idiot just stepped on my leg! Stupid upperclassmen!" She said.  
  
"I just tripped over something." I said.  
  
"It was probably one of the upperclassmen trying to haze us!" She said, "Why do they hate us?"  
  
"Um..." I was trying to think of an answer.  
  
"They're probably jealous of our youth." She said.  
  
"Trying to lure another victim?" A guy poked Bethany with a drumstick.  
  
"Oh it's you." Bethany poked the guy back. "This is Chris-"  
  
"Don't start." Chris said, "I don't want you to corrupt him."  
  
"Oh come on, it's not like most people know what your name really means."  
  
"Oh no, here we go..." Chris rolled his eyes.  
  
"Did you know his name really means Laura?" Bethany said.  
  
"Laura?" I said "That's, new."  
  
Chris sighed. "Well, I guess it was better to just get it over with anyway."  
  
"So," I started, "Waiting for your parents?"  
  
"I'm surprised they haven't already abandoned me!" She said, then giggled. I looked at Chris.  
  
"You'll have to get used to her." Chris said.  
  
"Okay." I said. I heard a car honk, and just in time for my escape out of this awkward moment was my Mom. "Well, I gotta go now. I'll see ya later!" I waved back at the two of them. It was pretty obvious that I thought Bethany was pretty weird at that point, but as I was about to learn, so was everyone else. 


End file.
